With it being the 19th anniversary of 9/11, I’ve had a lot of mixed emotions today. Some sad, some anger, some hurt. So often in life, we move on and things like the World Trade Center attacks get pushed to the back of our mind. Not that we shouldn’t move on with our lives, but we tend to forget, not just 9/11, but all the things our country has been through. This morning, as I’m watching the Fox News replay of the news coverage from New York that day, I couldn’t help but be angry with my fellow country men. How ignorant and hateful we’ve become with each other. How combative and divisive we are because someone is different than us. We can’t even have a civil debate among each other because we believe there is a hard right or hard wrong and both sides think they are right. Like holy shit. I’m literally watching people jump from 100+stories up to their deaths and all this country can talk about is how the president banned TikTok or that Pelosi isnt wearing a mask or how COVID is fake/real. They are burning cities to the ground as if that is their god given right, but they’ve never watched true destruction at the hands of our real enemies.

We are raising a generation that did not witness that catastrophic event first hand. Kids that did not watch their world change instantly as planes tore through buildings as if they were made of tissue. Sure they read about it in their history classes now, but how many parents have actually sat down with their kids and talked to them about what happened and showed them what happened? Explained to them that we spent years engaged in a war and that thousands of people died not only that day, but in the years to come because they chose to serve their country in that deadly, demolished building and overseas. Explained to them the fear we lived in as a country because up to this point, we hadnt seen anything like this. Oklahoma City’s bombings didnt even compare to 9/11’s death count. Granted it was a smaller attack, not in significance, but in number. We cant let something like this become a page in a book that our future generations just learn about and hope they realize the significance of it. Just like the Holocaust, the Great Depression, Bloody Sunday, and the Civil War. These cant just be a blip on the radar in our world. These were earthquakes that shattered the world and laid the base for new beginnings. So why do we act as if they don’t affect us now?

On 9/11, there was no longer this divide in our country, for the most part, and we were becoming Americans first, and everything else was an after thought. If we can do that in the midst of utter terror and destruction, why is it so hard for us to do it now? I was raised with a strong root in learning history, especially American history and let me tell you, our country has been through some shit. Sometimes at the hands of domestic violence and sometimes at foreign violence. War, genocide, racism, violence, exploitation, etc., and I can confidentially say that the things happening in our country right now, pale in comparison. And you wanna know why? Because our ancestors made sure we knew about the trials they endured. They made sure they told their children and grandchildren what the world was like so that they would learn and choose to make the world a better place. Most of the time. We dont get to pick and choose our history, but we do get to choose our future. As cliche as it is, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” If you as parents and grandparents are lacking in that area, educate yourselves. Talk to your elders, read a book, freaking google it, but make sure to check your sources. We are in a world where we have the knowledge of the universe at our finger tips so use it for more than Facebook or TikTok.

So as we take time today to remember our fellow Americans, almost 3000 in total, who lost their lives on that day, sit in reflection on your life and what you are doing to preserve our history and further our country. Take time to imagine the courage of the men and women who ran towards, not away, from the towers on that day, and try to personify that in your life and honor their sacrifice. Lastly, take time to appreciate the liberties we are afforded in this country because of our men and women who sacrifice their lives to defend our country because we may be the land of the free, but freedom always comes with a price and that is a price majority of us arent willing to pay.

In closing, some words from one of our greatest leaders:

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. – Abraham Lincoln